iMonk | January 2009

Navadwip, India — Wednesday, January 14th

All we need

When Srila Gurudeva hands us our beads when he gives us harinama initiation, he promises: "If you chant this Hare Krishna maha-mantra without offense, Krishna will reveal Himself in your heart."

But after years (or decades!) of chanting the Holy Name — nothing!

We're impatient. We want Krishna consciousness, and we want it now! When our chanting does not appear to be effective, we look elsewhere for an easier, quicker way — a shortcut to Krishna consciousness.

So we pore over musty books, wear kavachas and ritualistically perform our sadhana, looking for that one verse, charm, or arcane formula that will force Krishna to suddenly, magically reveal Himself in our hearts...

But Krishna will not mystically reveal Himself to us in a flash of light! The epiphany that we seek is the flash of insight, the sudden realization that there is no secret: that Srila Gurudeva has already given us the formula... over and over again!

This is an excerpt from a talk Srila Gurudeva gave on June 19th, 2006 (but it could be from just about any talk that His Divine Grace gives, because, as he reminds us, he is always stressing this formula).

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave us eight slokas, and they are very, very important for us. I am always emphasizing the three directives from Mahaprabhu's third sloka. Always! Why? Because only these three directives of Mahaprabhu are necessary:

trnad api sunicena / taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena / kirtaniyah sada harih

—Chaitanya Charitamrita (3:20:21)

Why is only this necessary? Because this will give you kirtaniyah sada harih: the qualification and the quality to properly chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. If you are qualified with these three qualities, you will be able to chant without offense, and you must get the result. I am 100% — maybe 200% — sure that you must get it.

But we are not getting the result! Why are we not getting the result? We must try, again and again, to realize why the Holy Name does not reveal Himself to us.

All the Vedic scriptures ultimately advise the conditioned souls to get the maximum benefit in their spiritual lives by chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, but what will we do with even a Ganges [a river] full of scriptural knowledge if we are not decorated with these three qualities? It is necessary to get this qualification.

So I want to remind everyone: be humble, be tolerant, give honor to others, and you will be qualified, extremely qualified, to chant the maha-mantra — and you will be happy with that.

So there we have it, from Srila Gurudeva himself. This is all we need to know, really. Krishna will reveal Himself in our hearts if we chant His Holy Name (kirtaniyah sada harih) with humility (trnad api sunicena) and tolerance (taror api sahisnuna), and give honor and respect to all (amanina manadena).

But Krishna consciousness can't be so simple, can it?

To use a quote that I've used before: "That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you have understood all your life, but in a new way."

Tags: Humility, tolerance, respect

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